In memory of our lost, beloved beasts of burden

In memory of all the wonderful bicycles that have fallen prey to scum over the years, I offer up my list of lost loved ones.

my first theft, as a child, when I left my bike outside on the front lawn overnight

my Rocky Mountain mtb ($2k), stolen from my friend's garage while I was in Peru. Her feckless slacker of a brother couldn't be arsed to lock the garage door.

my lovely Dawes tourer, stolen by a junkie in Amsterdam while I was locked inside a coffeeshop. I watched him steal it and couldn't do a thing. At least I had copious amounts of drugs to hand to cope with the sudden loss. It was fun trying to carry four fully loaded panniers after that.

a wonderful Dutch beater, stolen by a drunken student from 10 feet away while I was in a bakery

a fantastic Koga bike (again $2k), stolen from inside my apartment building - they ripped the railing apart from the stairwell to get to it. effing French scum.

my wonderful old Trek 850, which I'd had for 15 years - thrown away by my sister because it was old and she didn't think I wanted it. After I told her explicitly how much it meant to me and why. wtf

I miss them all dearly, every last wretched rusty beast

Anyone else want to list their stolen loved ones, if for nothing else then for group therapy?

Originally Posted by KrisPistofferson

Did you just say "minarchist?" I'm going to start a 10-page vaginathon because only Libertarians can define Libertarianism. Also, you're mean.

In memory of all the wonderful bicycles that have fallen prey to scum over the years, I offer up my list of lost loved ones.

I miss them all dearly, every last wretched rusty beast

Anyone else want to list their stolen loved ones, if for nothing else then for group therapy?

By the time I was 12 I had several single speed cruisers stolen from garages and porches, most were Western Flyers or their equivalent

One that still hurts to this day was my Chicago built Schwinn Heavy Duti newspaper bike, I was collecting on my paper route and some ******* took it off the drive while I was making change for the person.

Next to go was a Schwinn Sprint with the funky kick in the frame, it was stolen off the driveway behind my house less than a minute after I had walked into the kitchen, saw the prick riding away on it. Two weeks later I replaced it with a Paramount that was stolen off the roof rack of my buddy's car...

A fully custom Bob Jackson loaded tour bike with all my equipment stolen the night before we left on a long tour...they broke down the garage door to steal that one.

A Giant Excursion that I had scrimped and saved for almost 2 years to purchase, they broke a window out of the storage building,...the whole window...frame and all, lost a lot of other bikes that time too including my hardtail Giant Iquana and my kid's bikes, and all my tools. Eventually recovered the Iguana.

I think what really pisses me off is the amount of time I dedicate to helping ALL cyclists out and the time spent rebuilding old bikes for the local bike charity only to have my middle of the road stuff stolen from my home, because some jack is too lazy to get a job and buy his own stuff. Bicycle Theft needs to be a felony!

Aaron

Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(

When I was a kid in Seattle in the early '60's, we got our bikes by diving off the T-dock at Green Lake. So, when they were re-stolen we didn't really care. The thrill of going down 8' was the thing. I remember one time my big brother went down and suddenly, a whole lot of bubbles came to the surface. All the kids started shouting, "Gerry's drowning! Gerry's drowning!" A second later, Gerry popped up yelling, "There's three down there, gimmee a rope!" I guess he was so excited, he forgot to come up before he started shouting the glad tidings. It was a classic Norman Rockwell Scene. We didn't need no stinkin' parents. All survived.

This is the one I miss the most. My old 1988 Trek 830. Never stolen cuz who would want it. Just a broken dropout and not worth fixing. I still have the stripped bones...http://i13.tinypic.com/4iekltc.jpg

There's only one I really miss: my '85 Schwinn World Sport. It was a high school graduation present from my parents. I rode it all the way through college and law school. I did several triathlons on it and used it for commuting to my first job. One night I drunkenly left it unlocked in front of a bar in which I was getting drunker still.

Cyclists of the world, unite! You have nothing to lube but your chains!

About 1974 I got what was then one of the very first bmx bikes.It was a Huffy.Called an bmx 250.
We went to town and when we returned we saw a group of kids walking down the street in a circle,we found out later that it was my bike in the middle of them.
I was so sad.About 2 weeks later there were 2 bikes with motorcycle type handle bars.Never could prove anything but I know that one set were mine.
About 6 months later I was given what was left of my bike from the local police.(he had actually fell over it in an alley.)
It was never the same.It had been violated.I rode variose pieces of it on other bikes but I just never had any hart in it.

my BMX bike, a schwinn predator, that i used for dirt track racing was stolen after about 5 years of having it. nice bike, cheap price, but light, and with the parts i put on it, it was definately not cool that it was stolen even though i had not been riding much due to my skateboarding devotion. it was partially my fault which kills me the most, i left it at a friends house for a couple weeks, it was outside, and then gone. thats what i get for being 17 and procra huge procrastinator.

Never had a bike stolen, but there are at least two I would like back.

While I was in the Marines my bike from my high school years got discarded... an old 26" cruiser POS chopper I built up from a pile of parts... I am building a tribute to it now, it took a while to find the ramshorn bars at a decent price... Over 30 years later I will ride it again (different in ways, but same in nature).

I sold my first ten speed to my room mate when I transferred in 1980, I wish I had it back. Blue Schwinn LeTour IV only a few months old... Scott, do you still have it? I would like to buy it back!

a list of one

just my not-very-expensive, heavy, step-through Trek Sole Ride. I loved that bike. Thieves didn't take the more expensive bikes in our condo's garage. Not even bikes that weren't locked. Instead they actually went to the trouble to steal my beloved, "old-lady" bike. I still wonder where she (she was a her) is now.